


Ty Lee Attends a Meeting

by EmberCartwright



Series: Tyzula Things [26]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Diplomacy, F/F, Fire Nation Royal Family, Not really hurt comfort, Wives, not really fluff, slice of life?, tyzula - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27714005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberCartwright/pseuds/EmberCartwright
Summary: After years of listening to Azula and Mai talk about their duties as the Fire Lord's closest advisors, Ty Lee decides she wants to attend a meeting. She is a Princess too, after all.
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Tyzula Things [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019697
Kudos: 128





	Ty Lee Attends a Meeting

Ty Lee walked into Azula’s office, completely ignoring the guards that tried to keep her out. 

Azula was sitting with one leg bent up on her chair and one on the ground. Her pen was in her mouth and she was looking at papers that covered the whole surface area of the desk. 

When her door slammed open she didn’t even look up. 

“My office is closed to visitors right now,” she said, shifting some papers. 

“Nothing of yours is ever closed to me,” came the response. 

Azula looked up and took her pen out of her mouth, greeting her wife with a rare and private smile reserved only for her. 

“You’re not wrong,” she said as she gestured for Ty Lee to close the door. 

The acrobat did so, confused. She’d expected annoyance or anger. If there was anything Azula hated it was being interrupted. 

Azula stood up and walked over to Ty Lee, grabbed her hand, and twirled her around, finally allowing her hands to rest on her wife’s hips as she swayed to non existent music. 

“What’s gotten into you,” Ty Lee asked as she draped her hands on Azula's shoulders and danced along. 

“Don’t you like it,” Azula asked, leaning forward and kissing Ty Lee. Ty Lee closed her eyes and melted into the kiss. 

Azula pulled away and began to trail kisses down Ty Lee’s neck eliciting a moan. 

“I like it a lot,” she said, pressing her hips against Azula’s and squirming a little. 

Azula chuckled and backed Ty Lee up until her knees hit her couch at which point Azula flipped her onto her back and climbed on top. 

Ty Lee hooked her legs around Azula’s waist and kissed her deeply as Azula’s hand moved underneath her shirt.

At that moment the door opened again and Azula shot up, holding Ty Lee on her lap and against her chest still. 

“Oh Agni,” came the sound of Mai’s voice. “Is no place sacred?”

“Why do I even bother with guards,” Azula asked as Ty Lee giggled against her chest. “You can turn around, we’re decent.”

Mai slowly spun on her heel and faced her friends. Ty Lee readjusted her clothes and swiveled to face her, sliding off of Azula’s lap to sit on the couch next to her. 

“The fact that you guys are so in love still is gross. It’s been like 12 years.”

Azula shrugged. “You need to keep it spontaneous.”

“You are anything but spontaneous,” Mai commented about Azula.

“I’m pretty spontaneous,” Ty Lee said.

“That’s why it works so well,” Azula said, kissing her temple. 

“I just wanted to know if you received the message from the Northern Watertribe that they promised to have delivered before the meeting later,” Mai said with a sigh. 

Azula nodded and tried to stand up but Ty Lee pulled her back down to the couch. Azula looked at her, perplexed. 

“Actually that kind of has to do with why I came here,” she said, playing with Azula’s hand inside her own. 

Azula grabbed the anxiously moving hand and raised an eyebrow at Ty Lee. 

“And why would that be?”

“I want to be allowed to come to meetings with you.”

Azula and Mai exchanged a look. 

“I hate it when you do that. Look I know I’m not super smart but-”

“Okay you can come. Northern Watertribe will be here in a few hours and I’ll send you the notes,” Azula said. 

Ty Lee’s mouth dropped open. 

“I, really?”

“Yeah, why not? You can’t come to all of the meetings obviously but you’re a princess of this country and it's good to hear a fresh opinion on things sometimes,” Mai shrugged. 

“You do know what the most important rule of these meetings is,” Azula asked, tracing Ty Lee’s chin and lifting it closed gently. “Don’t speak out of turn.” 

Ty Lee nodded vigorously. 

Azula showed Mai the papers she wanted to see which seemed to satisfy her and she nodded. 

“See you both later,” she said and swept out. Azula followed her and glared at her guards. 

“If anyone wants to come in you tell them no. If they seem too important to deny, knock on the door for Agni’s sake. If one more person comes into this room I swear on your lives you will no longer have jobs ever again, nor will your charred remains be in need of them,” she said and slammed the door. 

Walking back to her desk she sat down as she was before and gestured to Ty Lee to come over. Azula pulled a scroll from inside of a drawer.

“This is a brief. It basically goes over why the meeting is happening and who is coming. The stuff in the red ink just outlines some things I think might be said and what might be said in response. Mai asked that I make these for Zuko when he was just starting out, but now he doesn’t usually need them because he’s learned how to read his own mail. I still like to make them for the attack/ rebuttal part and just to keep a paper record. Also sometimes Zuzu gets lazy.” 

Ty Lee took the scroll and opened it, eyes widening as she took in the dense, small print. 

“You do this for every meeting? You have like ten meetings a week,” she said.

“When I say that I do a lot of work what do you imagine I do? After every meeting I also write up what was said, what was thought, and Mai and I put together some final comments.” 

“Can I stay here to read it,” Ty Lee asked, and Azula nodded, clearing a space across from her on the desk. Ty Lee sat down and started to read. 

The next hour passed in silence as Ty Lee tried to read the scroll and Azula wrote something very aggressively. 

Ty Lee got more and more distressed as she read paragraph after paragraph and still did not understand what was going on. At the end of the hour she was on the verge of tears. 

Azula looked up when she heard her sniffle. 

“What’s wrong Ty,” she said, concerned. 

“I don’t think I should go to the meeting after all,” she whispered. 

“What, why?”

“I’m just not cut out for it. I’m not as smart as you or Mai or Zuko,” she said shakily, as a tear rolled down her face. 

“That’s not true. First of all Zuzu is not smart at all. Secondly, we just have more practice with this stuff. What are you confused about,” Azula asked.

Ty Lee bit her lip and tried to stop crying. Her wife may have grown to be caring, even loving, but she had never gotten to be particularly patient. Ty Lee recalled many instances that Azula had brutally insulted Zuko for being too stupid to understand something.

“Come here,” Azula demanded. 

“What?”

“Come here,” Azula repeated, indicating to her lap on her side of the table.

“No, you have a lot of work,” Ty Lee protested. 

“You’re more important,” Azula said. 

“Aww, baby,” Ty Lee gushed. 

“Ty Lee, get over here now,” Azula repeated. 

Ty Lee got up slowly and walked over to Azula. She was reserved because as nice as she was acting now, later she might blame her wife for unfinished work, and Ty Lee was not interested in that possibility. 

“Don’t worry about my work,” Azula said, as if reading her mind. “I’ll finish it a different time, it’s not pressing.” 

Ty Lee sat down in front of Azula on the large chair and Azula wrapped her in a hug and placed her head on her shoulder. 

“Okay, where am I losing you,” she asked, kissing her cheek. 

Ty Lee pointed at the top of the scroll and Azula chuckled. Ty Lee squirmed uncomfortably. 

“I’m not laughing at you,” Azula said. “I think you’re very cute.” Azula tilted her head and kissed her wife’s cheek again. “Here is how you’re going to read this.”

Azula started to talk through the upcoming meeting, being very careful not to go too fast and to answer all of Ty Lee’s questions. 

A few times she stopped talking halfway through a sentence and scribbled something into the scroll, muttering to herself. 

When they had finished reading the brief and reached the attack/ rebuttal section the door slammed open. 

Ty Lee felt Azula’s hands grow hot on her stomach. 

“Please don’t kill the guards,” she whispered. Azula squeezed her hands into fists. Ty Lee tensed because she knew that the only thing sitting between the guards and their lives was herself, and Azula could easily toss her if she got angry. 

Zuko swept into the office, and Azula sighed and leaned back. Ty Lee took her hands and unfurled them, lacing her fingers through them.

“Your guards were almost aggressive with me,” Zuko said. “Me!” 

Azula rolled her eyes. 

“They are meant to keep people out,” she said.

“Not me,” Zuko said. “Do you have a brief for this water tribe thing? I didn’t really prepare for it. 

Azula exhaled deeply and reached into her drawer again, pulling out a scroll identical to the one Ty Lee was holding as well as two other sheets of paper. 

“Brief. Opening remarks. Closing remarks, subject to change of course.” 

“Thanks,” Zuko said, picking up the papers. 

“Anytime,” Azula said. “It’s literally my job.”

“Hey, I heard Ty Lee was coming to the meeting,” he said, scanning the documents.

“Yeah. I’m really excited!” Ty Lee replied. 

“Great work as always. See you two soon,” he said and he brushed out. 

The door closed behind him and Azula got up, surprising Ty Lee by picking her up.

“Alright, that was enough of that. Time to get dressed,” she said, leaning down for a kiss. 

Ty Lee kissed her and then readjusted herself so she had her legs around Azula’s waist and arms around her shoulders. 

“You write out two copies,” she whispered. 

Azula shrugged. 

“One is for me and one is on the off chance he needs one. He doesn’t usually return them,” she said. 

“You’re amazing,” Ty Lee whispered, kissing her again. 

“Mm,” Azula hummed. “I know I am but I really like when you tell me.”

Ty Lee smiled into the kiss. 

“You are amazing.” 

They kept kissing as Azula walked slowly towards a secret panel at the side of her office. Pushing open the hidden door she carried Ty Lee through a secret passage that came out into their bathroom. 

When Ty Lee broke the kiss and opened her eyes she was in their bedroom. 

“Woah! How did we get here,” she asked. 

“I can’t reveal all of my secrets,” Azula said with a smirk. “I really hate seeing people, especially after I leave the office. Everyone thinks it's open season to try to get what they want.” 

“I can’t believe I’m going to a meeting! Now I get to see what you do all day everyday.” 

Azula nodded and changed from her office robes to her diplomat robes. She tossed Ty Lee a set of diplomat robes very similar to hers but with pink piping. 

Ty Lee held them up to herself. 

“This is my exact size,” she said.

“Mai and I decided to get that made for you in case you ever expressed a desire to get involved in politics. Put that on and I will tell you just a few more things about this meeting. Rule number one?”

“Don’t speak out of turn.”

“Good girl. It’s actually a best practice not to speak out loud at all unless you know what you’re saying and Mai or I approve it. Next, you’re going to be sitting next to me and I’d like you to hold my hand, that way if you want to say something or ask something you can squeeze my hand and I’ll know.”

“How would I say anything if I’m not supposed to speak?”

“In these sorts of meetings it is not seen as rude to whisper. You’re going to see the northern watertribe officials whispering with their counsel or passing notes. This is all very acceptable. Squeeze my hand and tell me what you’re thinking. I’d love to hear any and all of your thoughts.”

“What if it’s a stupid question and it just wastes time?”

Azula walked behind Ty Lee and readjusted her robes.

“Time is not of importance here. You read the brief. They want something from us. Wasting time is fine.” 

Ty Lee turned around and hugged her wife tightly. 

“What was that for,” Azula asked when she stepped away. 

“You’ve been so thoughtful and patient with me today.” 

Azula hummed and cupped Ty Lee’s face. 

“One more thing before we go,” she said. 

Ty Lee nodded. 

“Don’t take anything that they say personally. People get nasty, especially when they don’t get what they want. They might say mean things or call us names but you need to hold your head high and just muscle through.” 

Ty Lee scrunched up her eyebrows.

“How mean could they possibly be? It’s diplomats.” 

Azula brushed Ty Lee’s hair off of her forehead and tucked it gently behind her ear, kissing her on the head. 

“Just prepare for the worst , okay?”

Ty Lee didn’t quite understand why Azula was so concerned but she nodded. 

Azula offered her arm and Ty Lee took it. 

Together they walked down the hallway out of the living quarters into the official business wing. 

There were a few older men in blue robes lingering outside the throne room and Azula greeted all of them by name and asked them polite questions. She introduced each of them to her wife and they all seemed pretty amicable to Ty Lee.

Mai approached Azula and whispered into her ear. Azula nodded and whispered something back. 

Mai turned and walked towards the door of the throne room and Azula followed, towing Ty Lee. 

Azula pushed open the door to reveal Zuko sitting behind a large curtain of flames, his long shadow was dancing menacingly on the floor and walls. 

Water tribe and Fire Nation officials sat down around a long table in the center of the room. There were a few maps hung up on the walls. 

Ty Lee squeezed Azula’s hand, drawing her attention to her. 

“Where do we sit,” she said, noticing there were no empty chairs left at the table. 

Azula walked towards Zuko’s curtain and raised her hand. An opening widened and Azula pulled Ty Lee through to the other side. 

Zuko made a similar gap for Mai and she crossed under as well. 

Zuko was sitting on a large cushion and next to him, but a few inches behind, were two identical ones. The cushion on his right had a smaller, lower one beside it. 

Azula took her seat on Fire Lord’s right and Mai took hers on his left. Ty Lee sat down next to Azula, clutching her hand tightly. 

Zuko lowered the curtain of flame once everyone was settled. He left it just high enough to mask the fact that he was reading from papers. 

He cleared his throat and was about to give his opening remarks when the chief of the Watertribe stood up. 

“I don’t understand the game that you are playing at,” he said angrily. 

“Pardon?” Zuko asked. 

“We were not informed you had a third member of your private counsel and from the report I was just given it seems as though she’s not a politician at all but a mere consort of your sister.” 

Ty Lee dug her nails into Azula’s hand and Azula placed her other plam on top of hers to try to soothe her. 

“Princess Ty Lee is part of this nation's Royal Family and you will treat her as such,” Zuko said. 

“It is the tradition of this nation that any member of the royal family may exercise their right to participate in political decisions and I don't understand the topicality of your statement to this discussion,” he continued

“I know there is an ulterior purpose to having her there and I don’t think it's for her merits as an advisor. It hurts me that you think so low of us that we would just let it slide,” the chief responded.

“There is nothing to let slide. She has more of a right to be here both legally and as a benefit to our discussion. We are here to discuss the aftermath of a war that she fought in and may I remind you that not a single one of your military advisors or generals saw more than two days of combat in a hundred years,” Azula said. 

“That actually brings me right into what I was about to say,” Zuko said, and launched into his opening remarks. 

The entire meeting went in a very similar fashion. The Watertribe stated their interests, Zuko tried to shoot them down. Azula successfully shot them down. They looked visibly uncomfortable whenever Ty Lee whispered something into her wife's ear. Mai took meticulous notes. 

By the end of the sixth hour Ty Lee was extremely fidgety and had a hard time continuing to sit still. Azula was stroking her leg slowly in an attempt to calm her a little while she revised the closing remarks she wrote. 

Zuko read his final piece. The Watertribe left the meeting soundly defeated, having gotten nothing and actually having made concessions they weren't even planning on introducing. 

After they filed out Zuko lowered his flames and Azula and Mai sat down at the now empty table with the other Fire Nation officials to discuss. 

Ty Lee stood back. 

When Azula realized she wasn’t there she whispered something to Mai and she nodded. Azula got up and walked over to her wife. 

“Do you want to leave. It’s been a very long time,” she asked. 

Ty Lee looked down but Azula cupped her chin and lifted her head so that she could see her eyes. 

Once glance was all it took for Azula to see that Ty Lee was on the verge of tears. 

“Come on,” she said, taking her hand and walking out of the room. 

“But your work,” Ty Lee protested. 

“Mai is entirely competent to do that stuff,” Azula said. 

“You don’t believe that,” Ty Lee said, looking down again. 

Azula pulled her hand out of Ty Lee’s and wrapped it around her waist.

“I’ll just redo it tomorrow,” she said. 

“You shouldn’t have to do that just because of me,” Ty Lee said.

“Be honest right now because I will take whatever you say next as full honesty,” Azula said, stopping abruptly. “Do you want to go back,” she asked.

Ty Lee opened her mouth and closed it again. 

“Ty, look at me and be truthful,” Azula said in a stern tone.

Ty Lee looked at Azula and shook her head. 

“Good girl,” Azula said, starting once again to lead Ty Lee back to their room. 

When they got back Azula sat down on the couch and looked at Ty Lee. 

“So what did you think of your first meeting?”

All of the emotions Ty Lee had been holding in just broke out and she burst into tears.

“That was horrible,” she cried.

“Oh baby, come here,” Azula said. Ty Lee threw herself into Azula’s arms. 

“They were so mean.”

“I know,” Azula said, rubbing her back. “I told you though, didn’t I?” 

“I know you told me but I still don’t get it.” 

Azula kissed Ty Lee’s head and pulled out her braid so that she could scratch the back of her head in the way she liked. 

“You were an unexpected element,” Azula said as Ty Lee regained her composure. 

She looked up confused and Azula wiped the tears off of her face with the pad of her thumb.

“What do you mean?” 

“The Northern Watertribe is famous for their meticulous preparation and anticipation of every element in those sorts of meetings. Mai and I were ready to fight them for every point.”

“But that didn’t happen. I saw you tear them apart.”

“That was because something threw them off. An unknown element that they couldn’t have planned for.” 

“Me?”

“Yes you,” Azula said, kissing Ty Lee. 

“But I didn’t do anything.”

“You did so much Ty. More than you know,” Azulal said. “Firstly, you threw off the timing and opening. Then they spent so much time being wary of what you were saying to me that they distracted themselves from their own argument by trying to figure out your role there. Lastly, your comment about the fact that there were no women representatives was golden. You helped strike all the key blows,” Azula said. 

“I did?” 

Azula nodded. 

“You were fabulous,” she said.

“I was just wondering why we had women officials and they didn’t,” Ty Lee said, readjusting herself to sit straighter after Azula’s unexpected onslaught of complements. 

“And that really helped us drive home the institutionalized sexism and overall backwards nature of their tribe. After that, how can they really ask anything of us? Genius really,” Azula said with a maniacal chuckle. 

“So you used me to win the meeting,” Ty Lee said slowly. 

“You were definitely a secret weapon but we didn’t use you. You wanted to come to a meeting yourself. It was just good luck that it was this meeting.”

“Winning is fun,” Ty Lee said. 

Azula laughed a little louder. 

“I know,” she said with a grin. “Isn’t politics exciting? It’s a pity no grown men actually cried this time.”

Ty Lee cracked a small smile.

“More fun than I thought it would be,” she confessed. “Can I come to more meetings?”

“Of course,” Azula nodded. 

“I want to make grown men cry,” Ty Lee said with a twinkle in her eye. 

“And they say you’re the sweet one,” Azula said, kissing Ty Lee’s neck, causing her to squeal. 

“Well I bet I can do it with a really cute smile,” she said, her full perky disposition returned. 

Azula threw her head back and laughed so hard, Ty Lee couldn’t help but giggle along. 

“I bet you can,” she said, leaning in to kiss Ty Lee again.


End file.
